Swimming pool water circulation system

ABSTRACT

A swimming pool system including a system chamber formed in part by a wall of the swimming pool and close to the ground surface covered by coping material wherein water inlet conduits for filling the pool extend from a filter in the system chamber directly into the pool and along the interior wall adjacent the top thereof, outlet openings being spaced along the length of the inlet conduit to uniformly distribute water into the pool, an outlet conduit extending on the interior of the pool and directly into the system chamber, skimmer units being located in the walls of the pool and interconnected by a pipe extending below the coping freely to the system chamber, and all pipes and conduits extending to a remotely located pump from the system chamber in a passageway close to the ground surface and adapted to be exposed by the removal of a cover. The inlet conduit is spaced a predetermined distance from the pool walls to provide a finger hold rail around the pool walls. The inlet conduit may be selectively rotated to direct the water either downwardly into the pool or upwardly for cooling in the night air and to provide a series of fountains around the periphery of the pool. When the water is directed downwardly it will tend to disburse the sediment on the bottom of the pool such that it may rise and be removed by the skimmers. Further agitation of the sediment may be had by connecting a length of hose to the water inlet pipe at spaced apart points therealong whereby the water flowing therethrough will cause the ends of the hoses to move about on the bottom of the pool to disburse collected sediment.

United States Patent Bishop 3,682,31 1 Aug. 8, 1972 [54] SWIMMING POOLWATER CIRCULATION SYSTEM [72] inventor: Kenneth M. Bishop, 310 Market,

Carlisle, Iowa 50309 [22] Filed: Jan. 8, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 1,438

[52] U.S.Cl ..210/169 [51] lnt.Cl. ..E04h 3/20 [58] Field of Search..2l0/l69 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,575,729 4/1971Howard .'......210/169 3,059,243 10/1962 Ross et a1. ..2lO/169 2,848,1118/1958 Gare ..2l0/l69 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS 2,709 2/1893 GreatBritain ..210/169 Primary Examiner-Charles N. Hart Attorney-Zarley,McKee & Thomte [57] ABSTRACT A swimming pool system including a systemchamber close to the ground surface covered by coping material whereinwater inlet conduits for filling the pool extend from a filter in thesystem chamber directly into the pool and along the interior walladjacent the top thereof, outlet openings being spaced along the lengthof the inlet conduit to uniformly distribute water into the pool, anoutlet conduit extending on the interior of the pool and directly intothe system chamber, skimmer units being located in the walls of the pooland interconnected by a pipe extending below the coping freely to thesystem chamber, and all pipes and conduits extending to a remotelylocated pump from the system chamber in a passageway close to the groundsurface and adapted to be exposed by the removal of a cover. The inletconduit is spaced a predetermined distance from the pool walls toprovide a finger hold rail around the pool walls. The inlet conduit maybe selectively rotated to direct the water either downwardly into thepool or upwardly for cooling in the night air and to provide a series offountains around the periphery of the pool. When the water is directeddownwardly it will tend to disburse the sediment on the bottom of thepool such that it may rise and be removed by the skimmers. Furtheragitation of the sediment may be had by connecting a length of hose tothe water inlet pipe at spaced apart points therealong whereby the waterflowing therethrough will cause the ends of the hoses to move about onthe bottom of the pool to disburse collected sediment.

PATENTEDAUB 8 m2 3,682,311

hwavroe kZ/V/VETH M. BASHOP SWIMMING POOL WATER CIRCULATION SYSTEM Thecommon conventional residential type pool involves a water systemwherein the drain for the pool is provided in the bottom thereof and theconnecting pipe to the drain extending to the pump is buried in theground and in the concrete of the pool if the pool is formed fromconcrete. Also the inlet water pipes for the pool are buried in theconcrete or the ground as are all pipes connecting the pool to theremotely located filter and pump units. It is seldom that the pool wallswhether formed of metal or concrete leak but it is not uncommon forleaks to occur in the pipes and conduits. These leaks are almostimpossible to locate without digging up all of the conduits and pipes toexamine them. Thus it is apparent that the complexity of installation ofthe ordinary type pool is greatly complicated by the necessity ofburying the water inlet and outlet pipes and the maintenance problem isparticularly aggravated by having to completely tear up the entire poolto get to the buried pipes for inspection and repair if necessary. Theaccessibility problem with regard to the filter system and pump unit issimilar on most pools and thus represents a considerable problem.

The circulation system for the water in the pool of this inventioninvolves locating all the circulating pipes and conduits in positionsreadily accessible for inspection and maintenance if required. The inletconduit extending from a system chamber formed by one of the pool wallsis actually in the pool and extends along the pool walls at about thenormal water level. A plurality of outlet openings are provided toevenly distribute water throughout the pool. The inlet conduit is spaceda predetermined distance from the pool wall to provide a finger hold orhand rail around the pool. The spacing of the inlet conduit shouldpreferably be insufficient for a persons fingers to extend completelybetween the pool wall and the back side of the inlet conduit. A seriesof eye bolt fasteners which receive and hold the inlet conduit extendthrough the pool wall and are anchored in poured concrete if desired.The lengths of inlet conduit are interconnected by appropriate couplingsand are of an appropriate diameter to give the desired water flow atgiven points around the pool. Additionally, the lengths of inlet conduitmay be rotated to direct the jet of water either downwardly into thepool usually for daytime operation or upwardly to provide cooling of thewater during the cool nights and to provide a plurality of fountainsaround the periphery of the pool upon which colored lights may beappropriately directed.

It is seen that when the water jets are directed downwardly wave motionswill be caused in the water to agitate the sediment on the bottom of thepool to cause it to rise and be removed by the skimmers. Additionally,it may be desirable to place lengths of hoses at various points aroundthe periphery which will extend to the bottom of the pool and move abouton the bottom for agitating the collected sediment. The flow of thewater through the inlet pipe may be caused to pulsate and besequentially operated as desired by the appropriate use of commerciallyavailable valves and controls.

The outlet pipe for the pool comprises a pipe located inside the pooland extending directly into the system chamber for communication withthe remotely located pump system. If skimmer units are used they wouldbe interconnected by a pipe freely disposed directly below the copingnear the pool's edge and this pipe would then extend back to the systemchamber. The remotely located pump required by most city ordinances isin communication with the inlet conduit, the outlet pipe and theskimming pipe through pipes located in a passageway directly below theremovable coping material. The filtering unit is in the system chamberand thus is directly accessible by removal of the coping materialcovering it.

Additionally a lighting unit may be located in the system chamber andthus also be directly accessible for inspection and repair whenrequired. It is thus seen that there are no underground or buried pipesor conduits and all of the regulation system can be quickly assembledand inspected after the pool is put in place to find leaks if any shouldoccur. It is never necessary to tear up the ground or pool structure towork on the circulation system. All that is necessary is to removecoping material or the like covering the pools edge.

These and other features and advantages of this invention will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to thefollowing description when taken into consideration with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the pool system of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the system chamber includingthe filter unit and light unit showing the pipes and conduits all beingin communication with this chamber;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 inFIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 1.

The water circulation system of this invention is shown in FIG. 1 on apool 10 having side and end walls 12 and 14. The walls form a poolchamber 16 filled with water 18.

A pair of water inlet conduits 20 comprised of a number of segmentsinterconnected by appropriate couplings 19 extend into the pool and inopposite directions along the adjacent pool end walls 14 and thencealong the sidewalls l2 terminating at steps 24 in the opposite end wall14. Outlet jet openings 26 are provided along the length of the inletconduits 20 to evenly distribute water into the pool around itsperimeter. The size of the outlet openings may be varied to give thedesired uniform distribution of water throughout the pool area. Theangle of the openings in the inlet conduits 20 may also be selectivelyvaried to direct the stream of water 28 at the desired angle into thepool.

It is seen that a space 30 is provided between the inlet conduit 20 andthe pool sidewalls l4 and 12 through use of eye bolts 32 having a spacershoulder 34 and a nut 39 on the inside of the walls. It is also seenthat concrete 37 may be poured on the bolts on the inside of the wallsto permanently maintain them in place and to give further rigidity tothe connection of the eye bolts to the walls.

Further adjustment of the inlet conduits may be accomplished by simplyrotating the conduits in the eye bolts such that the desired jetprojectory is provided from a normal daytime position of the water beingdirected downwardly into the pool as seen by the solid lines in FIG. 3or upwardly as a fountain as indicated by the dash lines in FIG. 3. Whenthe water is being directed upwardly as a fountain the water is cooledby exposure to the cool night air but also provides a very pleasingappearance which can be considerably enhanced by the addition of coloredlights directed on the jets of water projecting upwardly around theperiphery of the pool.

The cleaning of the bottom of the pool is further enhanced by the use oflengths of hose 31 connected to spigots 33 appropriately spaced aroundthe length of the inlet pipe 12. The length of hose would have a tail onthe bottom of the pool of between 2 and 6 feet in length to agitate thedirt and sediment particularly at nighttime.

The circulation of the water by the plurality of inlet jets 28 spaced 6to 12 inches apart as compared to feet on conventional pools greatlyincreases the sanitation of the water by its being changed morefrequently. As is also seen in FIG. 3 the sediment 35 on the bottom ofthe pool is caused to rise to be removed by the skimmers.

It is seen that the space 30 is just sufficient to allow only the fingertips of a person to grasp the inlet conduit pipe 20 and thus allow thepipe to be used as a hand rail but not allow the swimmer to extend hishand fully around the pipe. Thus injury to a persons hand is avoided aswell as possible damage to the pipe and its securing fastener meanswhile still giving the swimmer safety in having a hand rail all alongthe pools perimeter.

The inlet pipes 20 are in communication with a conventional filteringunit 38 positioned in the systemchamber 22. The filter 38 is fed by apipe 40 extending directly under coping 42 to the pump 44 locatedremotely of the system chamber 22 as required by most city ordinances.

It is further seen that the water is removed from the pool through anoutlet conduit 46 extending directly out of the system chamber 22 anddownwardly adjacent the deep end sidewall 14 as seen in FIG. 3. It isapparent that the outlet pipe 46 is fully exposed inside the pool 16 andwill draw water from the pool just as a drain located in the bottom ofthe pool with pipes extending under ground to a remotely located pump.As seen in the drawings, the outlet pipe 46 extends through the end wall14 and through the system chamber 22 thence upwardly and outwardly tothe pump 44 adjacent the pipe 40 feeding the filter unit 38.

A series of skimmer units 48 are positioned in the sidewalls of the poolaround the perimeter thereof and are interconnected by a pipe 50 whichalso extends freely and independently of the pool along and below thecoping 36. The pipe forms a T as seen in FIG. 2 with the wing portions50 extending in opposite directions around the perimeter of the pool andthe leg 52 extending to the pump 44.

In addition to the water circulation system which is easily installedand easily maintained when servicework is required the pool is providedwith a pool light 60 positioned in the system chamber 22 and mounted inthe end wall 14 as seen in FIG. 2 and thus is fully exposed formaintenance work if ever required.

The inlet conduit 20 sections may be made of high strength plasticmaterial which is readily shaped to follow the contour of the pool walls12 and 14. The outlet set openings 26 are preferably constructed toprovide high pressure water streams 28 which will tend to move thesurface water and allow it to be skimmed by the skimmers 48automatically as well as agitate the sediment on the bottom of the poola seal may be provided on the eye bolts 32 of a Neopreme or likematerial to provide sealing between the walls 12 and 14 and the eyebolts for the pipe 20.

As seen in FIG. 4 the coping 36 extends completely around the pool andover the space provided for the skimmer outlet pipes 50. Thus inoperation it is seen that the pump 44 will draw water in from the deepend interiorly located outlet pipe 46 as well as from the skimmers 48through the skimmer pipes 50 whereupon the water will be pumped backthrough the pipe 40 to the filter 38 and the water under pressure willenter the inlet pipes 20 to be uniformly distributed around the pool asseen in FIG. 1. The deep end outlet pipe 46 as seen in FIG. 3 will drawthe water from the bottom of the pool and tend to help clean the bottomof the pool since the lower end of the pipe is closely positioned to thebottom surface. At the same time the inlet streams 28 from the inletpipes 20 will agitate the surface water to cause it to skim the debristhereon into the skimmers 48 as seen in FIG. 4 whereupon the water willbe drawn away through the skimmer outlet pipe 50.

Again it is stressed that the water circulation system may be easilyinstalled in building a pool and may be prefabricated in its entirety.Equally as important is that all of the water circulation conduits andpipes are readily accessible to be inspected for leaks or the like. Thesafety of the pool is substantially increased through the use of thecirculation system of this invention due to its providing a finger-typerail around the periphery of the pool at the approximate water level ofthe pool and thus the swimmer has something to grab hold of close athand at all times but yet the finger hold pipe will not cause injury tothe swimmers hand since it is carefully spaced a predetermined distancefrom the pool sidewalls to prevent the hands of the swimmers from beingcaught.

I claim:

1. A swimming pool water circulation system comprising, a pool structurehaving a bottom and sidewalls forming a water chamber, water inlet meansincluding an inlet conduit disposed on the chamber side of saidsidewalls and extending therealong, said inlet conduit having aplurality of outlet openings along its length for directing waterupwardly and inwardly to provide a plurality of cooling fountains ofwater in said water chamber, said water inlet conduit secured to saidsidewalls and positioned adjacent the top of said sidewalls, a systemchamber provided with one sidewall being formed by one of said poolsidewalls, a removable coping extending along and over said sidewalls,said coping forming a cover over said system chamber, a pool outletconduit extending from in communication with said water chamber intosaid system chamber, a filter unit in said system chamber, a pump meansin communication with said pool outlet conduit, said inlet conduit beingconnected to said filter unit, said pump means adapted to draw waterfrom said water chamber through said pool outlet conduit and return saidwater to said water chamber through said filter unit connected to saidinlet conduit, said inlet conduit being exposed in said water chamberand extending directly through said pool sidewalls into said systemchamber for communication with said filter unit, said pool outletconduit being located in said water chamber and extending directlythrough said pool sidewalls into said system chamber, said pool outletconduit extending from said system chamber in a passageway adjacent theground surface to said pump means located remotely of said systemchamber, and a plurality of skimmer units located in said pool sidewallsand having an interconnecting outlet pipe extending freely and directlyunder said removable coping and adjacent said pool sidewalls on theexterior side thereof, said skimmer outlet pipe extending through saidsystem chamber in said passageway to communication with said pump means,and an inlet pipe extending closely adjacent said pool outlet conduitand said outlet pipe in said passageway between said pump means and saidfilter unit whereby all pipes and conduits are readily accessible formaintenance work.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said water inlet conduit is securedto said sidewalls by a fastener means including spacer means to positionsaid conduit at a predetennined distance from said sidewalls whereby apersons fingers may grip said conduit for a handhold means.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein said fastener means is furtherdefined as eye bolts having bolt portions extending through the poolsidewalls, said eye bolts having eye portions through which said inletconduit extends and nut means on the outer side of said sidewallsopposite said water chamber engaging said bolt portions and saidsidewalls hold said eye bolts and inlet conduit rigid.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein said inlet conduit is composed of aplurality of sections rotatably coupled together by coupling means forsaid sections to be turned independently of each other.

5. The structure of claim 1 wherein said inlet conduit includes aplurality of hose lengths connected thereto with their free endspositioned on the bottom of said pool structure for agitating movementover the bottom upon water passing therethrough.

1. A swimming pool water circulation system comprising, a pool structurehaving a bottom and sidewalls forming a water chamber, water inlet meansincluding an inlet conduit disposed on the chamber side of saidsidewalls and extending therealong, said inlet conduit having aplurality of outlet openings along its length for directing waterupwardly and inwardly to provide a plurality of cooling fountains ofwater in said water chamber, said water inlet conduit secured to saidsidewalls and positioned adjacent the top of said sidewalls, a systemchamber provided with one sidewall being formed by one of said poolsidewalls, a removable coping extending along and over said sidewalls,said coping forming a cover over said system chamber, a pool outletconduit extending from in communication with said water chamber intosaid system chamber, a filter unit in said system chamber, a pump meansin communication with said pool outlet conduit, said inlet conduit beingconnected to said filter unit, said pump means adapted to draw waterfrom said water chamber through said pool outlet conduit and return saidwater to said water chamber through said filter unit connected to saidinlet conduit, said inlet conduit being exposed in said water chamberand extending directly through said pool sidewalls into said systemchamber for communication with said filter unit, said pool outletconduit being located in said water chamber and extending directlythrough said pool sidewalls into said system chamber, said pool outletconduit extending from said system chamber in a passageway adjacent theground surface to said pump means located remotely of said systemchamber, and a plurality of skimmer units located in said pool sidewallsand having an interconnecting outlet pipe Extending freely and directlyunder said removable coping and adjacent said pool sidewalls on theexterior side thereof, said skimmer outlet pipe extending through saidsystem chamber in said passageway to communication with said pump means,and an inlet pipe extending closely adjacent said pool outlet conduitand said outlet pipe in said passageway between said pump means and saidfilter unit whereby all pipes and conduits are readily accessible formaintenance work.
 2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said water inletconduit is secured to said sidewalls by a fastener means includingspacer means to position said conduit at a predetermined distance fromsaid sidewalls whereby a person''s fingers may grip said conduit for ahandhold means.
 3. The structure of claim 2 wherein said fastener meansis further defined as eye bolts having bolt portions extending throughthe pool sidewalls, said eye bolts having eye portions through whichsaid inlet conduit extends and nut means on the outer side of saidsidewalls opposite said water chamber engaging said bolt portions andsaid sidewalls hold said eye bolts and inlet conduit rigid.
 4. Thestructure of claim 1 wherein said inlet conduit is composed of aplurality of sections rotatably coupled together by coupling means forsaid sections to be turned independently of each other.
 5. The structureof claim 1 wherein said inlet conduit includes a plurality of hoselengths connected thereto with their free ends positioned on the bottomof said pool structure for agitating movement over the bottom upon waterpassing therethrough.